New law to control wholesaling
By Staff Reporter

Cabinet has endorsed and called for the drafting of a new overarching law that will control and regulate the involvement of foreign nationals in wholesaling, retailing and general training in the country.

The decision comes in the wake of a public outcry by local small and medium enterprise owners who have been squeezed out of the market by foreigners who sell cheap things by simply setting up retail shops.

“The concerns mainly hinge on increased poverty as a result of displacement of small Namibian retail businesses by large and small foreign owned businesses as well as exploitative employment conditions offered to Namibians by such businesses,” read a statement from Cabinet.

The statement said that besides the need for a proactive Government intervention in response to the public outcry, some measures of control in the sector were necessary in the interest of long-term development of a dynamic local industrial or manufacturing sector.

The industrial and manufacturing sector is greatly dependent on the existence of a supportive local retail sector, which is ready to absorb the locally produced goods.

Government believes that to address the problems of existing foreign participation in such sensitive sectors, it is essential to support Namibian business entities to become more competitive by putting certain measures in place.

One of the measures is to reduce cost of the establishment and operational capital, that is, to enable local business people to have easy access to capital at nominal rates and repayment terms.

The other option is to set up and provide export-import credit facilities and assistance to Namibian retailers to enable them to source products from original manufacturers or suppliers at competitive prices in places such as Dubai, India, China or Hong Kong for resale in the local market and for export, as foreigners are doing at the moment.

Providing competitive business premises in strategic places, that is public investment in main street shopping malls that can be provided at affordable rates to local businesses or incentivize private sector development of such facilities is also being considered.

“Cabinet has thus considered and endorsed the drafting of a new overarching law on investment, both domestic and foreign direct investment, for Namibia, that adequately reflects and responds to the country’s developmental realities and aspirations, while at the same time ensure international benchmarking and competitiveness,” read the Cabinet statement.

Cabinet has also endorsed a decision to invoke a section in the Foreign Investment Act with a view to controlling future entry and operations of foreign nationals in designated business activities or sectors.

The Foreign Investment Act is currently being replaced with a new and more responsive overarching law on investment that embodies a clear policy statement on private investment in general, both domestic and foreign investment.

Under the new law, certain economic sectors or activities will be reserved for Namibians or obligatory joint ventures. All foreign investors will also be registered as a matter of compulsory for statistical purposes.